]]>http://useful-things.info/how-do-i-design-software-and-hardware-for-six-sigma/5dd161d1-0ac8-4e55-bcf0-577fc99eb4c6Wed, 14 Feb 2018 17:39:43 GMTThis is a very technical book on designing software and hardware systems using a very disciplined approach. It includes techniques for making sure the right product is built, building and satisfying requirements of a business case. And much, much more.

]]>AT&T WiFi Calling On Google WiFi does not work when two iOS devices are on the network when DNS is set to Automatic. Change the setting under Advanced Networking/DNS to ISP DNS. Then Forget the WiFi network on your iOS devices and rejoin the network. Turn on]]>http://useful-things.info/how-do-i-make-wifi-calling/285d5ab3-7154-4606-88a4-68a25431c27bWed, 14 Feb 2018 11:34:02 GMTAT&T WiFi Calling On Google WiFi does not work when two iOS devices are on the network when DNS is set to Automatic. Change the setting under Advanced Networking/DNS to ISP DNS. Then Forget the WiFi network on your iOS devices and rejoin the network. Turn on WiFi calling under Cellular settings on the iOS device. It should the word WiFi should appear immediately in the iOS status bar. ]]>if [[ "$1" =~ s.* ]]
then
echo small
elif [[ "$1" =~ l.* ]]
then
echo large
else
echo small or large
fi

]]>To boot your Mac into any of OS X’s built-in startup modes, you must press and hold one or more keys detailed below after turning on the computer. Press the keys immediately after hearing the startup sound, unless otherwise specified.

Manually restart: Power (⎋)

Boot from CD/DVD: C

Startup

]]>http://useful-things.info/mac-startup-keys/c843c1fd-9066-4604-a744-55c9582b7f51Sun, 28 Jan 2018 18:28:47 GMTTo boot your Mac into any of OS X’s built-in startup modes, you must press and hold one or more keys detailed below after turning on the computer. Press the keys immediately after hearing the startup sound, unless otherwise specified.

OS X Startup Volume: X will start up your Mac from an OS X startup volume when it’d otherwise boot from a non-OS X volume, like a Windows partition

Prevent Login Items from opening: To override your current settings and prevent Login Items and Finder windows from your last session from opening when you log in, hold down the Shift (⇧) key after clicking the Log In button in OS X’s login window until the desktop appears.

Prevent automatic login: If you enabled the option to automatically log a specific OS X account every time your Mac starts up, you can override this setting by holding the left Shift (⇧) key after OS X’s boot progress indicator appears.

Reset PRAM/NVRAM: Command (⌘)—Option (⌥)—P—R, then release the keys after you hear the startup sound for a second time

Reset SMC: Shut down your Mac, and then press and hold the left-side Shift (⇧)—Control (⌃)—Option keys along with the Power (⎋) button, all at the same time, until the computer turns on. Now release the keys and then turn your Mac back on using the power button.

Other keyboard shortcuts are available after your Mac has started up.

]]>About Blender

I've been using Blender off and on for graphics and animation for at least a decade. It's very capable and very difficult to learn. However, if you can slog your way through learning how to use it, it's incredibly powerful. I recently begun another round of attempting to

I've been using Blender off and on for graphics and animation for at least a decade. It's very capable and very difficult to learn. However, if you can slog your way through learning how to use it, it's incredibly powerful. I recently begun another round of attempting to learn how to use Blender. These are my discoveries.

Making Shapes using Boolean using "Blender Default"

Even after watching a couple of videos and faithfully following the manual, I couldn't create even a simple shape properly. This reminded me of why I stopped using Blender... in fact, because I didn't want to start spending a fortune on commercial software, I just stopped altogether in the past. I started watching YouTube videos on the subject and took a detour into learning about Grease Pencil Animation... then later continued researching how to create shapes.

Grease Pencil Animation

Like everyone else, I dismissed the "grease pencil" feature in Blender as useless. Then I saw an awesome video and demo file of what it could do. Download and run "ForYou.blend" and run it. It's amazing.

Sensei Format and the Open Source Blender Ecosystem

I watched a few videos on how to use the Shape Modeling tools in Blender. It looked very easy... the disclaimer "this video uses Sensei Format" seemed innocuous. Until I looked into it, I didn't realize, how wrong I was.

Sensei Format is a plugin for Blender which fixes a lot of the things that make Blender difficult to use. It's purpose is to make Blender a tool which behaves as you would expect and to automate a lot of things that require multiple steps to do in Blender. It is a free Blender Add-On. The "Blender Crash Course" shows how to use Blender and the Sensei Format add-on. The only price of admission is your email address. (Unlike most free things, you can't get this add-on without having an account on blendersensei.com). Basically, this is how Open Source business works. Produce something useful and gain a following, then leverage this new ecosystem to sell products and services... just enough to make a decent living doing something you like.. Basically, create a livelihood. Not a bad deal.

Blender Ecosystem

A few Blender Stores have popped up. The stores sell models and add-ons. There are a lot of add-ons for Blender. Some are for pure performance (rendering takes a lot of computer power), others provide advanced graphical effects. BlenderSensei.com is an example of a viable business based on Blender.

]]>First... you need to run sshd on the Windows computer... which is a process in itself... but assuming you have this setup. Just do this:

ssh yourpc_ip date;date

You'll see this output:

Wed Aug 16 11:38:06 CDT 2017
Wed Aug 16 11:38:07 CDT 2017

]]>http://useful-things.info/how-do-i-sync-a-linux-computer-time-to-a-windows-computer-without-ntp/20a09c55-04cd-47b9-a7aa-b029dab2ba3bWed, 16 Aug 2017 16:25:58 GMTFirst... you need to run sshd on the Windows computer... which is a process in itself... but assuming you have this setup. Just do this:

ssh yourpc_ip date;date

You'll see this output:

Wed Aug 16 11:38:06 CDT 2017
Wed Aug 16 11:38:07 CDT 2017

Do the math, whatever the difference is, just run date to adjust on Linux:

sudo date -s "-1 seconds"

All done.

]]>I've avoided using LVM in the past because I found it confusing... however, since I actually had a need recently I decided to build a VM with LVM. This web page gives a good description of how to add disk space using LVM:

]]>http://useful-things.info/how-do-i-add-disk-space-to-linux/7d1ae887-2469-4633-917e-04a186a66cbeMon, 17 Jul 2017 13:50:16 GMTI've avoided using LVM in the past because I found it confusing... however, since I actually had a need recently I decided to build a VM with LVM. This web page gives a good description of how to add disk space using LVM:

]]>Often times it's necessary to watch progress of things like copying a file or checking if a process is still running. This is a job for the Linux "watch" command.]]>http://useful-things.info/how-do-i-monitor-progress-or-watch-a-command-in-linux/a56fed84-9361-4076-b103-d26eab17a054Thu, 01 Jun 2017 15:22:36 GMTOften times it's necessary to watch progress of things like copying a file or checking if a process is still running. This is a job for the Linux "watch" command.]]>Docker is best suited for running services vs. applications that have GUIs. However, it is possible to run applications that have X11 based GUIs on Docker using x11vnc. It is a rather complex topic.

Let's start with the basics, HelloWorldSwing.java

mkdir apps
cat <<\EOF > apps/HelloWorldSwing.

]]>http://useful-things.info/how-do-i-run-a-java-app-with-a-gui-in-docker/0872efc0-ee5a-4ef0-8d3f-f98a90ad3b0eSat, 27 May 2017 00:14:23 GMTDocker is best suited for running services vs. applications that have GUIs. However, it is possible to run applications that have X11 based GUIs on Docker using x11vnc. It is a rather complex topic.

For testing, we can just disable all the security and passwords in the VNC viewer. Then connect to the Docker container. Note: you must use the IP address of the host running the Docker engine. If this is a VM, the network interface must be bridged or port forwarding of 5900 must be used.

At this point you will have a shell running in an xterm. Just execute the program using the java command:

cd apps/Hello
java HelloWorldSwing

]]>I previously published a way to add an SSH Key to a CoreOS Droplet. It is quite complicated. However, I neglected to realize that after CoreOS is up and running, I can just add entries in ~/.ssh/authorized_keys. Doh.

1. ssh core@your_coreos_machine
2. scp you@your_

]]>http://useful-things.info/how-do-i-add-an-ssh-key-to-coreos/fd6ee255-7b08-4211-b1b3-c6b520d398d3Fri, 26 May 2017 10:13:20 GMTI previously published a way to add an SSH Key to a CoreOS Droplet. It is quite complicated. However, I neglected to realize that after CoreOS is up and running, I can just add entries in ~/.ssh/authorized_keys. Doh.

All done. Well, almost. This is a temporary measure. The authorized_keys file is overwritten by the contents of the ssh_keys section of cloud-config.yaml, which has been squirreled away during the install. It cannot be changed.

However, it is possible to use a "config drive" to add authorized_keys to CoreOS. The clues are posted here:

]]>Office 2016 is web based. It is possible to sync a local folder with SharePoint, however, often time syncing fails or is so slow that opening a file using a browser actually opens a file that has not been updated. This is annoying, but using some conventions it's not too]]>http://useful-things.info/what-is-the-most-reliable-and-efficient-way-to-use-sharepoint-and-office-2016/bc287746-8a66-45d9-a901-fabfc175b253Wed, 24 May 2017 15:51:52 GMTOffice 2016 is web based. It is possible to sync a local folder with SharePoint, however, often time syncing fails or is so slow that opening a file using a browser actually opens a file that has not been updated. This is annoying, but using some conventions it's not too bad.

Get a Human Readable URL

Each app, say Microsoft Word, has a File screen. The file name is shown upper left. Right click, you'll see a list of options. Select Copy Path.

Which Do I Use Web or App?

In general, the rule of thumb is, if you are writing or editing a document, use the associated app. Always edit using the "http://" path to the document, not a local synced version. Honestly, the synced folder is more of a liability than having any real use.

How Do I Open A File Using http: URL Efficiently?

Using SharePoint 2016 on the web, Select Versions, then right click on the latest version.

Links in Firefox Download the File then Edit in the App, How do I fix this?

If you are not using IE, when you click on a URL which is in SharePoint the file is downloaded to Downloads (save) or %TEMP% when "Opened" from the Browser. Instead, right click on the URL on the page, copy it and paste it into the browser OR open the application and "Open Other Location", then "Browse", then paste into the filename field. This will force the application to use the http: file path, preserving updates properly.

How Do I Get a URL of a Folder To Send to Someone?

Getting the URL of a file or folder is easy, getting one that doesn't look like gibberish isn't.

Getting the URL of a folder doesn't seem possible in 2016 web interface, but can be done my simply clicking on the "..." in the classic interface. In the 2016 interface, you can use the Firefox method to copy the URL of a file in the folder, then just delete the filename.

Using the App... open a file, the go to File/Open File Location. Right click, copy, paste.